“The City of Melbourne proposes to exclude southbound traffic between Flinders Lane and Flinders St by October this year, allowing us to more than double the amount of pedestrian space and improve access to key public transport interchanges at Flinders Street Station and the Elizabeth St tram terminus,” Cr Doyle said.

The upgrade will include new street furniture and bluestone paving, better lighting, drainage improvements and more trees.

“We will do a treatment, like you see on Swanston St, with a broader footpath, trees planted, with street furniture, to make it a much more pedestrian friendly space,” he said.

The work started in June, with the eastern side works to get underway later in the year.

The construction works still allows northbound traffic to travel between Flinders St and Flinders Lane.

“The corner of Elizabeth St and Flinders St is one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the CBD, with 9300 people pounding the pavement per hour during the morning peak,” Cr Doyle said.

“We think it will be a wonderful uplift to what has been probably an ugly duckling intersection in the city.”